


i'm kind of feeling lost wherever i go

by skyepoots



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: 2x01 spoilers, Gen, Post 2x01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-29
Updated: 2014-09-29
Packaged: 2018-02-19 04:53:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2375312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyepoots/pseuds/skyepoots
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They say evil doesn't take a vacation, but there sure are times when the good guys need one. It's a trip that doesn't really benefit anyone but the two of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i'm kind of feeling lost wherever i go

**Author's Note:**

> After 2x01, I decided the only thing the AOS fandom needs is an unrealistically happy fic. So, I tried to deliver. Title from Out On My Own by Gabrielle Aplin.

"Fitz needs help," Melinda says as she walks into Coulson's office.

"We've done the best we can-"

"You've done the best you can," she cuts Coulson off. "I can do better." Coulson sighs.

"What do you need?" he asks.

"Seven days and a car." she answers. One hour later, Melinda May has the keys to a beat up Toyota Corolla and a road trip to begin.

// day 1 //

Fitz doesn't sleep much anymore. He goes to bed as late as he can and wakes up at the crack of dawn to work in the lab. One morning, he finds Melinda standing in front of his door.

"Get changed," she says. "I'll pack your things." He doesn't ask why until both of them are in the car, driving away from the Playground. She, in the driver's seat, he, in the passenger's, and Jemma in the back.

"I'm not taking you to the airport," Melinda says. "You won't be safe back home."

"Then where am I..."

"Going." Jemma interrupts.

"Going," he repeats.

"On a trip." Melinda tells him. She turns on the radio and it plays for a few hours until they've reached a zoo. She pays for the tickets and he nearly sprints toward the monkey exhibit. He starts rambling off facts about the different species, often pausing in the middle of sentenced until Simmons offers him a word. It takes a lot of coaxing for him to be pulled away from the monkeys and eat breakfast - or lunch, as it was noon.

He eats like it's the first real meal he's had in weeks, while Melinda just chews and watches. After eating, they go back and look at more animals. He marvels at the lions and tigers while she's particularly fond of the birds. They leave the zoo when it closes for the night and check into a nearby motel, getting a cozy room with two twin beds.

Both rest easy that night. She falls asleep to the sound of him talking to himself when he thinks she can't hear, and he falls drifts off soon after, feeling truly safe for the first time in months.

// day 2 //

"When are we going back?" Fitz asks.

"Soon," Melinda answers. "Now go take a shower."

"But..." he tries to argue. He used to like taking long showers. Now, he can't go more than five minutes in without feeling like he's back in that pod. He doesn't take as many as he used to. Still, it would be nice to feel clean again.

"Just a quick one," she tells him. "If anything happens, I'll be out here." He eventually spends half an hour underwater. By the time he's out, she's already bought doughnuts and his medicine is out on the nightstand next to a glass of water. He wants to argue that she left him and something could have happened, but the pills he's supposed to take concern him more at the moment.

"Damn it," he tells himself. "I forgot to take them yesterday."

"Just take them now," she says. He swallows the pills and then they eat breakfast in silence.

The next few hours are spent listening to snippets of trashy music interspersed with radio static. By three in the afternoon, she's sick of him trying to change the radio station every five seconds. So, they stop at a gas station. While she goes to the bathroom, he uses her money to get slushies for the two of them and half the place's supply of chips and candy. When she gets out, she can't help but feel happy because he has so much food in his arms and he has a dumb smile on his face. He looks like a little kid in a candy store and it reminds her of the person he used to be.

That night, they stay in a campground, sleeping in the car with the windows down after having the world's most unhealthy dinner.

// day 3 //

They're on the road again. He's changing the radio stations again. She's annoyed, again. So, she turns off the radio.

"So, Fitz." she tries to make small talk.

"Hm?"

"You never told me what happened down there."

"Simmons and I agreed never to talk about it."

"Simmons?" she asks. A part of her is happy he can talk about Simmons and not burst into tears after every that's happened.

"Yeah." he answers. She pretends not to notice what happens next. How he softly says, "Right?" and looks to the backseat of the car and nods and smiles. How he touches his shoulder again.

She pretends not to understand, making a mental note to bring it up at a more appropriate time.

The appropriate time comes at a coffee shop. She buys three small coffees since the place doesn't have the tea he likes. They sit down at a small, round table near the windows.

"Sorry they didn't have tea," she says.

"But why did you buy three?... Oh."

"It's okay, Fitz. At least a part of you knows she isn't real."

"I wish she was."

// day 4 //

Melinda is woken up at 2 a.m. by her phone ringing.

"What, Coulson?" she asks.

"You need to come back." he answers. It's the only thing he says, as she ends the can before he can speak anymore.

"Who was that?" Fitz asks groggily.

"Go back to sleep." she says. He only rolls over on his bed so that he's facing hers.

"Was it Coulson?"

"Sleep." He doesn't talk after that, which makes her perfectly comfortable to roll over and get at least three more hours. Just as she's close to drifting off, his voice pulls her back to reality.

"I don't even know when the..."

"Hallucinations." Simmons offers.

"Hallucinations began. She was here, and then _she_ was here, and I'm so..."

"Confused? Frustrated?" Melinda asks.

"Both. I don't know what to do."

"You'll get through it." There is a long pause until he speaks again.

"Thanks, May."

"For what?"

"For being here."

"Go back to sleep, Fitz."

"There's a fair the next town over. Can we go?"

"Sleep and I'll think about it." The daylight comes the pair checks out of the motel and went to the fair. By the time the sun sets, the backseat is covered with extremely large stuffed animals.

// day 5 //

They are the road again when Fitz sees a sign.

"May! Look, Disneyland."

"Disneyworld, Fitz. Besides, we're a mile away."

"Oh."

"Do you wanna go to Disneyworld, Fitz?" He nod. Years later, Melinda denies that a) she met Mulan and asked her for an autograph for a kid she didn't have and b) a three year old walked up to her and told her she reminded of Mulan. The only thing she denies harder is how much she liked it.

// day 6 //

It is when they are both sitting in an ice cream shop after a long story day of sightseeing that Fitz repeats the question that he had asked so few days ago.

"Why did we go on this... trip?"

"You needed it."

"How did you know?"

"Same thing I needed once. To get away."

They're both silent after that. It is only after a few seconds that he realizes he hasn't seen Jemma in two days.

// day 7 //

They spend their entire day driving back to the Playground. He doesn't obsessively change the radio stations anymore. Instead, the radio stays off and he just makes small talk with Melinda.

He doesn't touch his shoulder or look at the backseat one.

She smiles when she realizes how far he's come.


End file.
